Congress Races to Negotiate Ukraine/Border Deal Ahead of Funding Deadline
Update Friday, Jan. 19: President signed the continuing resolution into law on Friday, January 19, averting a partial government shutdown.
Update Thursday, Jan. 18, 5:02pm: The House and Senate cleared a continuing resolution on Thursday, January 18 just before 5:00pm. The bill cleared the House in a 314-108 vote hours after the Senate approved the measure. The government funding deadlines are now March 1 and March 8, buying lawmakers more time to finish the formal appropriations process. President Biden is expected to sign the resolution shortly.
Congressional leaders and key congressional committee chairs met with President Biden at the White House to discuss the compromise on Ukraine funding and border security, which is being negotiated by a small bipartisan group of Senators and the Biden Administration.
Republicans are requesting improvements to border security and changes to asylum policy, in exchange for unlocking $105 billion in aid the President requested for Ukraine, Israel, and other allies.
"There was a large amount of agreement around the table, that we must do Ukraine, and we must do border," said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) after the meeting.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) called the meeting “productive” but says border security must be the “top priority.”
Before the meeting Speaker Johnson voiced skepticism over the potential Senate deal, saying he is “anxious” to see the final text, but insisted that the border must be secured before Congress entertains comprehensive immigration reform.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the compromise being written in the Senate would place limits on migrants to claim asylum at the border, which is a concession from the White House.
But sticking points remain, including the issue of parole. And any deal faces a steep climb in the Republican controlled house.
The lead Senate Republican negotiator James Lankford (R-OK) hopes to have an agreement soon and urged parties to withhold judgment before reading the final text.
“The Senate’s going to do its work … and hopefully make it really hard for the House to ignore,” a Senate aide told The Hill.
Government Funding Deadline
Meanwhile, there is progress in avoiding the looming partial government shutdown on Friday, January 19 and Friday, February 2.
The Senate is expected to pass the continuing resolution to fund the government through March 1 and March 8 as early as Thursday, getting it over to the House in time to avoid the partial shutdown.
“We hope that the House will take up this bill before the Friday deadline with bipartisan support,” Senator Schumer said.
Speaker Johnson is facing blowback from Freedom Caucus Members over the spending deal, so the Speaker will need Democratic support to get it through the House. There is the possibility that Republicans in both Houses will attempt to attach policy riders to the overall stopgap to gain some policy wins
Spending Stuck
The stopgap is designed to give appropriators more time to negotiate the fiscal year (FY) 2024 spending bills, following the $1.66 trillion top line agreement that was struck between Senator Schumer and Speaker Johnson.
As for spending negotiations, appropriators are working on how to divvy up the $886.3 billion for defense and $772.7 billion in nondefense spending.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-TX) are still negotiating subcommittee allocations, a process that was supposed to be wrapped up last week.